The Naked Spur

A western set in the Colorado mountains. Howard is after a man. Ben Vandergroat is wanted and there is a price on him. Howard finds him in the mountains but cannot take him alone. He gets help from two men he meets on the way: an old prospector and a soldier thrown out of the army. Both take him for a lawman. Ben is caught. A young woman named Lina is with him. The truth comes out: Howard is not a lawman but a bounty hunter. They then agree to divide the reward in three. From there the film becomes a journey. Five people come down from the mountain and Ben talks all the way. Even with his hands tied he is dangerous; he whispers to each of them separately, finds every weak point and works to set them against each other. The tension comes not from guns but from those conversations. Howard's own past opens slowly as well: why he wants the money and what he wants to go back to. James Stewart plays Howard, Robert Ryan plays Ben and Janet Leigh plays Lina. Ralph Meeker and Millard Mitchell are in the cast. Anthony Mann directed. It was shot entirely on location with no studio sets. A production near the top of its kind for anyone who likes classic westerns and tension built on character. For a viewer looking for a hero, Howard is a brittle and angry man throughout.